u/talon5188

Recently, I looked at a 2013 Jetta TDI Sportwagen. This car has 110,000 miles and checked all the boxes. All the major services had been completed around the 100,000-mile mark, and they were logged onto Carfax as well. The seller was asking 5500$.

The problem that I ran into with the car is that the seller, before we met up, told me that the DPF light was on. They told me that after a month or two of just city driving, it comes on, but after 4 or 5 times of driving it on the freeway, it goes away. I told the seller I would be interested if I could get the light off. They let me take it on the freeway for about 45 minutes, and I did everything that Reddit, YouTube, and the forums online told me to do to get it off. The light didn't turn off despite my driving on the freeway at the recommended RPMs for 45 minutes.

I told the seller that I would think about it for a day.

This is my question: Should I keep looking into this car or not? The car has been listed on FB marketplace for about 4 months, so I think that if I offered 4500$ they might take it. If they take that price, I could budget in a new PDF filter and install it, or get a delete kit and tune. Potentially, I could get it for 4500$ and if the light goes away, I just saved myself a good amount of money. They also said they were going to take it for a highway drive to see if it would turn off. If the light turns off, I would be super interested, but that begs the question: Should I be interested in this car if the light turns off? Apparently, it turns on and off quite often. I read somewhere else that if it turns on and off a lot, that could be a result of another problem.

There is also another TDI Sportwagen that is listed for 1000$ than the one I drove today, but it has 10,000 more miles, and when I asked the dealership, it was it they said they had no idea if the timing belt and transmission service had been done.

If you were in my position as a 24-year-old graduating from college who needed a commuter car, what would you do?

I have 3 old Thermarest Orange pads. One was my dad's from when he was a kid in the 70s, and the 2 others were his siblings, and they are probably from the 80s. The one from the 70s has the classic metal air valve, and the other 2 have the black plastic ones. I also came across a half-sized blue thermrest pad from the 80s-90s.

My first question is that does anyone know the R value of these pads? Or an estimated R value? I have always used these pads when we go car camping because I would rather risk these pads than one of my super expensive and lighter pads. I always assumed that they had a high R value because they were so thick, but recently, after using one when it got down to below freezing, I might be changing my mind.

The other question is that the pad from the 70s won't hold air all night anymore, and I was wondering if Thermarest has a program to replace or repair these. I know they have a super great lifetime guarantee, but does that hold up for something from the 70s-80s? I have heard this goes both ways. I have seen posts where they were able to get a replacement and others where they were not able to.

Last question, about how much these are worth? I like to collect old Coleman stoves and lanterns, and it seems the stuff you would think would be worth a lot is really not, and the weird things you think no one wants are worth tons. So I would assume the world of vintage sleeping pads might be the same?